You and Me equals Us
by wispykitty
Summary: 100 word drabbles that delve into the relationship between mentor and pupil. Focusing on Neil and Aphrodite, though the others will make appearances here and there.
1. Chapter 1

These are all about Neil and Aphrodite, his mentor. I adore their little relationship, and I like to think that underneath it all, she does care about her little protégé. Other characters will make appearances here and there, but these are all centered about these two narcissists. If you have any ideas for scenes, or little prompts you'd like to see, feel free to leave them in a review! Enjoy. :)

**1 – Letters**

"What do you think? There is attractive, but it's such a plain word…"

"Alluring?"

"Much better!"

"What about l? Lovely?"

"Maybe. How about lustful?"

"Oooh! I like it!"

"What did you pick for e again?"

"Exquisite."

"Oh good, I wanted to use enchanting."

"What did you pick for i?"

"Incredible."

"Very nice. And for me?"

"That's a toughie. Hold on. Odie, are you there? Come in Odie, emergency!"

"Neil? What's wrong?"

"What's a synonym for perfect that starts with an i?"

"What?!"

"It's important!"

"That's perfect, Neil! Important!"

"Never mind, Odie."

The communicator goes silent and Odie sighs in frustration.

(In case it's not apparent, they're picking words that describe them for every letter on their names;)

**2 – Kiss**

"No no, dear. You've got it all wrong."

"But that's always how it looks in the movies."

"You're obviously not watching the right movies, sweetheart. Not so much tongue right away. Here, pay attention."

She puts a hand on the back of his neck, her fingers just slightly cold. Her lips are soft as they press against his, and he feels her breath against his mouth. She pulls away after a few seconds, and he nods his head.

"I understand now! Like this?" He moves in close to her and kisses back, and when he pulls away she smiles.

"Perfect."

(This is not meant in a romantic manner, I just figure she'd like to teach him about kissing;)

**3 – Hair**

"That really works?"

"Of course it works, look!"

She studies his head, pursing her lips a little.

"Are you absolutely sure, Neil?"

"Absolutely! And look, the colour will match your belt."

She compares the swatch to the material and her eyes widen. "You're right."

"So I can try, then?"

"Oh alright, dear. I'll trust you."

"Oh goodie! Just sit back, it doesn't take long."

"Will it hurt?"

"Heck no! You won't feel a thing."

Minutes pass before he washes the excess away.

Aphrodite looks in her mirror and squeals at the bright blue lock of hair. A perfect match indeed!

(With all the teaching she's giving him, I figure he'll want to teach her about something from the mortal world, and hair dye seems like something they'd both enjoy;)

**4 – Sleep**

Aphrodite knows that Ares has been training them hard the past few days, and she knows that he's only trying to help them. She still thinks it's ridiculous, though, to expect Neil to train as hard as everyone else. He's not supposed to be a fighter!

No one ever listens to her, though, because what does she know about saving the world?

What she does know is that Neil won't be any good to anyone if he's tired, so that's why she sings him to sleep when he visits her, instead of telling him about her new silk robe.

(Aww, I like to think she has at least one, wee, tiny motherly bone in her body;)


	2. Chapter 2

Here I am, back with a few more! I'd like to say right off the bat that I actually ended up cheating with this batch… It all started with the first one! These are all 150 words, not 100. I just couldn't fit everything into 100. Instead of putting up shorter ones with unfinished sentiments, I opted to add an extra 50 words to the mix. I think I might do this from now on, actually. Have one round of 100 worders, followed by a round of 150 worders. Sometimes you just need an extra few lines. :)

As far as the kiss from last time goes, perhaps I ought to have said a bit more on that, heh. Neither of them think it's a big deal, and neither of them would say anything about it to anyone else. And as far as Hephaestus goes, Aphrodite would probably be amused if he found out and was upset about it. Seeing as how she was kind of forced into marrying him, I can't see (my version of) her really enjoying the marriage all that much. So she'd do things to aggravate him whenever possible and snicker about it behind his back. ;)

Anyway, thank you for the reviews thus far, keep them (and any ideas for scenes;) coming, please and thank you!

**5 – White**

"Why is it we can never find Neil when we need him?" Archie grumbled, as he walked down the hall towards Aphrodite's suite.

"Yeah, and when you don't want him, you can't get rid of him," Odie responded with the same annoyed tone. The two boys stopped before a set of big gold doors, hearing music coming from behind them.

Archie didn't bother knocking before pushing the door open and entering. He stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes fell on their missing team mate.

Neil and Aphrodite were too busy dancing around the room in their white underwear to notice the intrusion, instead singing into hair brushes.

Archie quickly stepped back and closed the door. "Guess we don't really need him after all."

Odie was silent a moment before speaking. "Were they dancing to Billy Idol's 'White Wedding'?"

Archie shuddered. "I suddenly have a newfound respect for Ares."

(Please don't ask what inspired this one, I just enjoy my moments of crack… And for some reason, I can see Neil listening to Billy Idol, and of course wanting to share his musical interests with Aphrodite!)

**6 – Presents**

"Neil, honey, do you know what day it is today?" The goddess was lying on her chaise, eyes on her pupil.

Neil thought for a moment before answering. "Wednesday?"

Aphrodite giggled before answering. "No, silly! It's our one year anniversary!"

Comprehension dawned on Neil and he slowly smiled. "Oh yeah! You remembered, cool!"

"Of course I remembered sweetie, I even got you a present." She snapped her fingers and one of her servants brought a wrapped box to Neil, who eagerly opened it.

It was a gold pocketwatch, opening to reveal a mirror on one side, and a picture of he and Aphrodite on the other. "Awesome!"

Aphrodite beamed back at him, pleased that he liked her present. "I figured a locket was too girly, so a pocketwatch, without the watch, of course, was the answer."

Neil nodded in agreement . "Yeah, we're totally way more important than time, anyway!"

(I like to think they'd give each other presents whenever the idea crosses their minds, I can totally see Neil flaunting this fact in front of the others;)

**7 – Mother**

For the first time since he's come to her, she doesn't quite know what to do for him. After all, he's never been hurt or sick. The worst she's ever seen him be is very tired. This is different, though, and she's feeling very out of her element.

He's lying on her couch, tossing and turning in a fitful sleep, and he's very hot to the touch. She has her girls fanning him, she figured it was the least she could do.

When one of her girls suggested that she soak a cloth in cold water and hold it to his head, she obliged, sitting next to him and smoothing his hair into place so he at least looked good while he was suffering (she knew he would appreciate that).

And when he pushed his head into her hand and called her 'mom', she knew she was doing something right.

(I don't know about their plan in the show, and certain reports on-line had conflicting information, but I don't believe Aphrodite ever had any children of her own, and if she did, I doubt that she would have raised them herself. Even if she did, her mothering instincts are probably a little rusty! And while I don't think she'd be overjoyed to have to deal with a sick person, I think Neil would be able to pull off a pathetic enough sick patient routine for her to let him stick around while feverish;)


	3. Chapter 3

And I'm on a roll this week! Back to the 100 words for this little bundle. :) Thanks again to those reviewing - it always means a lot to know when people appreciate your stuff. To address a few things for African Titan: Neil is pretty self absorbed, and probably believes that visiting Aphrodite is enough of a present, heh. Luckily for him she doesn't get offended. ;) And as far as Hephaestus goes - let's just say that I really need to review those episodes, heh. I sadly have not even seen any of the second season, *sigh* and it's been a while since I've watched the first. I don't remember even seeing him in an episode, so forgive my ignorance to his appearance. ;) I just based my initial reaction on their history, since she had a thing for Ares instead of him to begin with. :) And with that said: onwards!

**8 – Baby**

"I'm so glad you're in, I totally need your help!"

Aphrodite smiled at Neil's voice and turned around. "What's the pro-" she stopped mid-word when she saw Neil holding a baby.

"Oh don't worry, he's not real! He's from my health class. All seven of us have them for the weekend."

She nodded. "Oh. Interesting…"

"Yeah well listen, obviously I can't walk around with him looking like this! Neil Junior needs some sprucing up, otherwise I'll have to call him Jay Junior."

Aphrodite frowned and poked his eye. "He's plastic, ew."

"Tell me about it! Plastic is _so_ last decade."

(Hooray for more crack! I guess not even heroes can get out of the dreaded robot baby weekend in health class!)

**9 – Time**

It hits her all of a sudden one day – he's not going to live forever.

Being immortal doesn't really give her a sense of time. Of course she understands the concept of night and day, of week and month and year. But she doesn't really get how quickly they pass by. Sometimes she forgets that mortals don't stay the same their whole lives.

One day, Neil won't be sixteen. He won't have the same hair, the same clothes, the same face.

The worst part is not knowing how long he has left, or how long she has left with him.

**10 – Cotton Candy**

He comes bounding into her suite with a bag of pink fluff in one hand, and a teddy bear in the other. "I won you something at the fair!" He offers the bear to her, and she takes it.

"It's lovely, Neil!" She sits it next to a dog he won her the last time, and notices that he's eating the pink stuff.

"What is that?"

"It's cotton candy! Wanna try some?" He holds it out to her, and she looks at it sceptically.

"It looks like you're eating a cloud…"

He grins. He loves introducing her to mortal things.

**11 – Consultation**

"Good afternoon, young man. What might I help you with today?"

"There's a hole in my heart, doctor!"

Gasp! "A hole in your heart? Whatever from?"

"None of my friends appreciate me, doc!"

"That bad?"

"Yes." Sad sigh…

"Well, let me see what I can do for you."

Knock knock. Annoyed sigh.

"Who is it?"

"Herry."

"Go away, Herry! We're busy."

"But we have training with Ares!"

"Tell him Aphrodite says hello, Herry!"

"And tell him I'm not coming!"

"Neil!"

"Why do they always bother us when we play psychiatrist?"

"Go on, my couch will be waiting when you finish!"

(Please tell me I'm not the only one who can envision them playing doctor? Neil is so overly dramatic, he'd play the perfect patient, flopping back on the couch with his hand to his forehead, and she'd be dressed up in mortal clothes he got her, complete with glasses and a clipboard! I blame all this crack on being bored at work:)


	4. Chapter 4

And a very happy Halloween to everyone! To celebrate, some more drabbles. :) African Titan, I'll bring out more Herry just for you! And thanks for the tip on the YouTube channel, hopefully I'll be able to get caught up this week.

**12 - Marriage **

It caught her off guard when he asked her about her marriage to Hephaestus. Neil usually didn't talk about anything other than himself and at first she wasn't really sure what to tell him.

Eventually she dove in and gave him the full explanation of how Zeus and Hera had offered her to Hephaestus to assuage their guilt at throwing him off of Mount Olympus. And then, at the end, when he frowned and told her that he didn't think it had been fair that she hadn't been able to choose her husband, she didn't quite know what to say.

**13 – Technology**

"Guess what I just got today?"

"What?"

"An iPhone!"

Aphrodite shoots him a confused look. "What?"

"It's the newest cell phone technology!" He shoves the phone under her nose, proceding to show her every imaginable feature it has, regardless of whether or not she understands.

"That's nice, Neil."

"Hey, let's test out the camera!" He puts his arm around her shoulders and takes a picture.

"What did you do?" She's confused.

"Look! I took our picture." He shows her the screen, and she taps it with her fingernail.

"Hey, how did we get in there?"

He can't help but laugh.

**14 – Drawing**

"Oh, you're so going to like this." Neil grinned happily to himself as he put the finishing touches on his masterpiece.

Aphrodite picked up a green crayon and attacked her piece of paper. "When you look at mine you'll think you were looking in a mirror!"

Neil laid down his yellow crayon. "Oh yeah, this is awesome. I think I'm done."

Aphrodite threw her crayon into the pile and sat back triumphantly. "Let's trade!"

They passed each other their papers, grinning madly.

"Neil, honey, my hair looks amazing!"

"Ooh, you really make my eyes pop off the page, nice job!"

**15 – Costumes**

"I don't know what to be for Halloween." A pouting Neil sunk down into Aphrodite's couch.

"What are your friends being?" She was sitting at her dressing table, having her hair brushed.

"Theresa and Jay are being Romeo and Juliet - Theresa's idea."

"How boringly typical."

"Archie and Atlanta are being ninjas."

"Ooh, I like ninjas."

"Odie is being some geeky character from a video game, and Herry is being a cowboy."

The Goddess suddenly turned around, looking excited. "You could be a horse!"

Neil frowned. "Herry should be the horse! He's bigger than me after all. Then I could be the cowboy, and I could ride him."

Aphrodite started giggling. "Hehe, that reminds me of this time, back on Mount Olympus, when Ares and I played a prank on Apollo…"

"Continue?" Neil's curiosity was piqued.

She grinned evilly. "Let's just say, if you're the cowboy, make sure you get spurs."


	5. Chapter 5

Alright, well, I apologize in advance for this installment. I was able to watch a few epidoes on the weekend of the second season, and I saw the one with Adonis. I just couldn't leave it alone and had to write a few drabbles about it! The fourth one, I just gave up on trying to stay within the length requirements. It was just such an absolutely ridiculous scene that couldn't be accomplished in so few words. Things will go back to normal with the next batch. ;)

Oh and African Titan, the double entendre was totally on purpose, heh. Mind you, Neil didn't realize it, since he was only thinking of literally using Herry for his Halloween prop. Aphrodite, on the other hand, totally picked up on the DE and was probably giggling about it for the rest of the night. ;)

**16 – Adonis**

She was starting to think that this was one very good reason as to why she'd never wanted to have children. Sometimes they were simply unreasonable.

She hated having a stand-off with him, but she was not giving in. She hadn't done anything wrong.

After all, it _was_ Adonis they were talking about. Her love for him extended for centuries! You can't just sweep that sort of thing aside in an instant.

What was he trying to achieve anyway? If he was so mad at her, why was he still visiting every day?

"Neil, honey?"

"Still not talking to you."

**17 – Adonis 2**

At first she'd been willing to feel a little sorry for him, because maybe she'd made a wee bit of a bigger deal over Adonis than she should have. Or maybe she shouldn't have ignored him so much, or something.

But now he's just getting out of line! Showing up and sitting on her couch, not talking to her - except to say that he's not talking to her! Oh, he'll talk to her nymphs, and he'll even talk to the fish in her pond.

But he still won't talk to _her_!

"Neil, sweetie?"

"Do you hear something, little fishy?"

**18 – Adonis 3**

Okay, this was starting to get a little ridiculous. She had been sure that he was still coming around because he would have missed her if he didn't, but after today, when she'd hidden in her closet and pretended not to be here to see how he'd react, and when the nymphs told him she was gone, and he simply laughed smugly and laid down on the couch…

The nerve! How dare he! She'd stormed out of the closet and stood before him, telling him that she was busy and that he ought to leave, and he just ignored her!

**19 – Adonis 4**

She was ready when he showed up the next day. If this plan didn't work then she would officially be at a loss as to what to do.

She had gotten her nymphs to find a huge gold mirror, and she sat behind it and waited for him to come. When he did she signalled to one of her nymphs.

The purple haired girl sat down next to Neil. "I wonder if this is a magic mirror who reveals the fairest person in all the land?"

"Do you think it might be?" The interest in Neil's voice boded well for her plans.

"Oh yes! I'll try. Mirror mirror on the, floor, um, who's the fairest person, um, who's walked through Aphrodite's door!"

The goddess stifled a groan and instead replied in a sing-song voice: "Why, Neil is the fairest one!"

She didn't have to see him to know that he was sitting up straight and beaming. "Really?!"

"Of course! The mirror does not lie!" Oh she hoped he was buying this!

"Oh wow, I wish Aphrodite was here to hear this!"

She couldn't take it anymore. "I am here, Neil!" She popped out from behind the mirror.

"Did you hear that? The mirror thinks I'm the fairest person in the land! Ha! Take that, Adonis!"

Aphrodite frowned and knew she had no other choice. She threw herself on the couch next to Neil and threw her arms around him, hugging him.

"Oh my little Neil, I'm so sorry! I promise I won't ever ignore you again!" This whole mentoring thing was certainly tiring.

"That's okay. I'm glad you learned your lesson!"

Her smile suddenly flipped into a frown.

"Because I found this absolutely fabulous nail polish for you while I was at a modelling shoot! You should try it out!"

Her smile came back and she suddenly forgot that she was supposed to be angry.

(Ah yes, Neil is such a charmer, isn't he? ;)


	6. Chapter 6

And I'm back! Watched another episode and couldn't resist temptation to write about it…

AT – Your comparison to them being 4 year old best friends is so perfect, and it really does show why they can get away with their treatment of one another (just like Neil's reaction, I can't see any of the other mentors shoving their proteges to the wayside – or off a stage, hehe, when someone from their past shows up!) And Neil is ridiculously gullible when he's getting something. The fact that he didn't even realize she was speaking for the mirror when she popped out from behind the mirror really settles that fact, heh.

InvisibleNobody – Of course, Neil was checking out his reflection. Probably discussing it and asking the fish for their opinions. Speaking of which, you just inspired me for another drabble! Awesome. :)

**20 - Shoes**

"That's absolutely horrible! I'm going to have to have a talk with Hades!" Aphrodite was beside herself with anger. How dare Charon!

"I know! That was criminal behaviour! He should go to Tartarus! Let's talk to Campe!" Neil was wrapped in a blanket on her couch.

"Uh, let's not get ahead of ourselves, dear." She sat next to Neil and patted his leg.

"But now I have to get new shoes!" Neil held up his bare foot and pointed at it.

"I know."

"And a new shirt!"

"You do have other shirts, you know."

"But that was my lucky shirt!"

(Poor Neil, having all his clothing stolen by Charon! I totally love Charon after watching that episode, by the way, and hopefully he'll feature in a few more scenes)

**21 – Narcissus**

"And he wore really weird clothing!"

"Well, it was all the rage back in those days, dear."

"But it was so itchy! How did people cope?"

"That's a good question. I don't really know."

"Didn't you Gods wear that stuff back then too?"

"Some of them did, I didn't."

"What did you wear then? I bet it was something really comfortable! Silk, maybe? Why couldn't he have had me a toga made out of silk?"

"I actually never used to wear anything, back in those days."

"So, you walked around in the nude?"

"Oh yes. More comfortable than clothing."

"Oh."

(Heh, poor Neil! No matter how attractive your "mother" is, thinking of her naked will always scar you mentally;)

**22 – Fishies**

"Wave your right fin if you think my hair looks better this way," Neil flipped his fringy bangs over his right eye, "and wave your left fin if you think it looks better this way," he flipped the fringe to his left eye.

"Neil, honey, what are you doing?" Aphrodite, who'd been having her hair brushed on her bed, was finally coming down the stairs.

"Oh, I'm just having a conversation with your fish. They looked a little sad, so I thought they'd be happy if they could help me decide on a hair style."

"Oh, well, continue on, then!"

(Thank you, InvisN, for inspiring this one! Neil and the fishies! I can totally picture him talking to them while admiring his reflection in the pool.)

**23 – Cotton Candy Redux**

Even though the group was prepared to leave without Neil, Jay was determined to find their seventh member first, lest he think they didn't want him around.

When he didn't find him in his room, he was pretty sure the blond would be with his mentor. He knocked on the door and opened it when he heard the goddess' airy voice bid him entry.

But then he stopped when he saw Aphrodite and Neil in togas, both of them sporting pink beards.

Aphrodite giggled. "We're wearing clouds!"

"And you can't have one, Jay!"

Jay sighed. He shouldn't have been surprised.

(I just couldn't leave this topic alone!)


	7. Chapter 7

And here are a few more drabbles. It's gotten rather busier at work, which is why I sort of slowed down with these. Regardless, enjoy anyway! Number 25 is dedicated to a certain someone, heh. You know who you are! ;)

**24 – Worry**

Every time he went on a mission with the others (and someone bothered to tell her about it) she always worried just a little. She wasn't worried that anything would hurt him, because he had her protection, and that made him invincible in her eyes.

She worried about the small things, like if anything would happen to his hair, or if he'd get a nasty cut on his face that would scar.

She knew that anyone else would scoff at those concerns, consider them to be trivial matters, but those people just didn't understand Neil the way that she did.

**25 – Mother's Day**

Herry tapped his foot impatiently and wondered why he had agreed to this. Shopping with Neil was always a long and drawn out affair.

"What do you think of these, Herry?" Neil was holding a pair of huge white framed sunglasses.

"Uh, Neil, those are women's glasses."

"Uh, yeah, I know! They're for Aphrodite."

"You're buying her sunglasses?"

"It's for Mother's Day!" Neil gave him a look that suggested that Herry ought to have known this.

"But Aphrodite isn't your mother, Neil."

"So? They'll look fabulous on her!"

"I can't believe you buy her presents."

"We're very close, you know."

**26 – Dating**

"Did you know that Narcissus had some guy that fell in love with him?"

"Oh yes, he was lovely."

"Being gay is pretty trendy these days. Do you think I should try it?"

"It couldn't hurt. Well, it could, actually…" The goddess mumbled that last line to herself, but Neil was so caught up in his thoughts that he wouldn't have heard it anyway.

"I'd have to be very selective, though. It would be very hard to find someone good looking enough."

"True."

"Oh man, if only I could clone myself! I could date me!"

"You'd be a trend setter."


End file.
